RWE to spend €1bn a year on renewables

German energy giant forms new division to ramp up green investment

German energy giant RWE yesterday announced it is to invest €1bn a year in clean energy as part of a major new strategy that will also see it launch a dedicated renewables company, RWE Innogy, early next year.

Dr. Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of RWE, said that the group would aim to "pool some 1,500 megawatts of generating capacity within the new company".

The company is expected to target organic growth, with Grossman claiming its focus will be on "planning, construction and operation of plants for renewable power generation and energy recovery".

With RWE already boasting a 60-megawatt offshore wind farm in Wales, and a 1,750-megawatt capacity wind farm at Gwynt y Môr in the planning pipeline, the company is likely to focus heavily on continued investment in wind power. However, it also claimed that it will address other areas, including geothermal, solar, wave and tidal power plants.

The announcement follows a recent report from Ernst & Young that rated Germany as the destination of choice for commercial investors keen to target the renewable energy sector. In a damning indictment of the UK's renewables policy, the latest Ernst & Young Country Attractiveness Index claimed that the UK's popularity as a renewables investment destination had fallen because of a "lack of competitive pace on policy matters".

"Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has stated that Germany will aim to provide 45 per cent of total power generation from renewable energy by 2030, with the intermediate EU target of generating 20 per cent by 2020 being raised to 27 per cent," said Ernst & Young's head of renewable energy, Jonathan Johns. "This is a clear commitment from the German government that they are serious about backing renewables."